LIVE AS GOD'S CHILD

Fatherlessness is a sad reality in the lives of many people today, and as a result, many struggle to understand what it means to have God as our Father. But even the best earthly dad cannot compare to our Heavenly Father (Job 38:4-11). When we experience and understand the goodness of God as our Father, it changes the way we live. We start living as His children, understanding that He is a Father who leads, links, and lavishes.

GOD LEADS

Our Heavenly Father leads His children (Romans 8:14), but not everyone is a child of God. All people are His creation, but only those who receive Jesus and believe in His saving work are His children (Genesis 1:27, John 1:12). If you belong to God, He leads you by His Spirit, and His fruit will be evident in your life (Galatians 5:22-23).

We see God’s leading from the very beginning of creation. He provides by giving life and sustenance (Genesis 2:7-9), He protects by giving us warnings against what harms (Genesis 2:16-27), and He disciplines out of love when we sin so that we learn and grow (Genesis 3:17, 9; Hebrews 12:6). We can often be tempted to force our way instead of following God’s will, but to live as His child means letting Him lead and not playing “god” in our own lives.

GOD LINKS

Many times, our own experiences with our early fathers or cultural views of fatherhood can distort our picture of God. But through Jesus, everything changed. Paul taught us that we can call God “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15-16; Mark 14:36) - a term of intimacy much like “daddy” or “papa.” At Jesus’ baptism, God declared, “This is My beloved Son”, affirming the closeness of this relationship (Matthew 3:16-17).

Even in today's age of digital connection, loneliness runs deep, yet those adopted into God’s family are never alone. God adopts us into His family through Jesus Christ, and because of this, our sins are cancelled, we come under His care, and we receive the full inheritance of His children (Romans 8:15).

GOD LAVISHES

God lavishes His children with an inheritance as fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). This kind of grace is unimaginable given how we have treated God! The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 illustrates this perfectly. Despite everything the son had done, his father ran to embrace him and celebrate his return. More than the son’s failure, the story reveals the father’s prodigal love – a lavish, extravagant, and undeserved love.

This is how God loves us. He restores, forgives, and gives us privileges as His own children. If you are His child, you can trust that He wants to lavish His love on you even now.